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Anyone from South Florida knows that the Sawgrass Mills Mall in Hollywood is the place to find just about anything. It’s Florida’s largest outlet center and the second-largest mall in the state. Home to more than 300 shopping and dining destinations, it has both well-known retailers and luxury brands. To create a more social, upscale vibe, the complex added an outdoor part with cobblestone walkways, fine eateries, and high-end boutiques. Shop for outlet deals at places like the Burberry Factory Outlet, Guess Factory Store, PUMA Outlet, Kenneth Cole Company Store, Coach Factory Store, Escada Company Store, and the Polo/Ralph Lauren Factory Store.

One of my absolute favourite places to be at is the Meritus Club Lounge at the Meritus Pelangi Beach Resort in Langkawi. You have access to the lounge if you’re staying at one of the suites or Club rooms. Breakfast and tea are served here and it feels truly heavenly to be having your morning coffee and croissant under the coconut trees right by the beach. I especially love to come here for tea, around 5:30pm or so. A leisurely paced consumption of the delicious titbits served will ultimately end with a magnificent sunset.

I realize that this is a highlight that may not even need words, since the image is so very convincing. If you find yourself exploring the Costa Brava (‘Rugged Coast’) of Spain, be sure not to miss the beach town of Calella and have lunch at the Hotel St. Roc to sample the local specialties and witness this view. Once you descend on foot from the Hotel St. Roc, you’ll start to see footpaths and stairs headed down to a few, beautifully quiet beaches. The water is clear, the swimming great, and siesta seems to never really end in that glorious sunshine.

Walking through the narrow streets of Boston‘s North End might have you thinking about a delicious Italian meal. Take the time, however to explore the area on Hanover Street where the surrounding brick buildings suddenly give way to a park where Paul Revere stands guard. Commemorating his ride to warn the colonists of the impending British Invasion, the statue stands in front of a small park leading to the famous Old North Church. The setting is a perfect spot to relive the beginning of the American Revolution, and after exploring, leaves you in a location filled to the brim with restaurants and cafes to recharge before moving on.

If you’re a shopper, then Bologna is the city for you. Thanks to the combination of a large student population and a robust corporate climate, the ability to spend some money shopping abounds. One of the top buys can be found at the many food shops around town. Bologna is one of the culinary centers of Italy and you can find everything from the freshest of foods to the coolest of kitchen gadgets around town. This is also northern Italy, so fashion is always close at hand as well. If high-end labels are your thing, then a walk through the main shopping district won’t leave you disappointed.

A room at S-21 where prisoners were systematically tortured for weeks on end by Khmer Rouge soldiers in order to ferret out false confessions that the victims had committed acts of treason against Pol Pot and the regime. When I look at these images I really do find myself at a loss for words--this is one of those pictures that really do convey more emotions that spoken vocabulary ever could. It reminds of the video game Silent Hill, except it’s real--the evils of man are deeper than the pits of his imagination.

How to choose between sweet potato biscuits, truffle grits, and the free-range lamb meatloaf sandwich? Try them all! (Just kidding) As a solo diner, I skipped the sweet potato biscuits (sadly). The grits and sandwich looked and tasted like perfection, to the point where two passersby commented how delicious the sandwich looked and ended up eating there. Outdoor seating in a petite pedestrian mall makes for lovely ambience as well. No loud motorcycles here!

A blue horse on a balcony? Why not...”Seattle Blue” is the name of this mosaic-covered-statue by artist Paul Pearman, located on a quirky corner in Augusta, GA, a riverside city of underrated architectural history... This brick building was built at the end of the 19th century as a butcher shop, with the family residence upstairs; located on the SE corner of 6th and Ellis St., just a few blocks from the Riverwalk. (For more information about the artist: www.mosaicbuckles.com)

The bleak, windswept landscape of Connemara in the West of Ireland is characterized by bogs, lakes, mountains, and miles of stone walls. Connemara National Park is one of the best places to appreciate this unique landscape, with more than 7,000 acres of national park encompassing mountains, including some that are part of the Twelve Bens range, plus Western blanket bog and treeless plains that are home to red deer, sheep, and Connemara ponies. Explore for yourself, and find traces of history dating back thousands of years, including 4,000-year-old megalithic tombs and abandoned farms.

Work days in the ‘concrete jungle’ are hectic. Long hours are spent indoors, sitting at desks. It’s easy to forget that we live on an island. The East River Walk, beginning at 34th street and the FDR, is where I go to get away from the hustle and bustle. Looking out on the East River, I forget I’m in a city at all. Take a deep breath. Run/walk/bike/skip down to the Brooklyn Bridge and back. If you’re brave, continue around to the West Side.

For visitors, Carytown, located near the downtown hotels and the Museum District, is the preferred place to shop. This several-block stretch of West Cary Street is full of independently owned shops and restaurants, as well as the historic Byrd Theatre, a 1920s movie palace showing recent and classic films at bargain prices. A few notable shops are Mongrel, an all-occasion gift shop with a great selection of Richmond- and Virginia-themed items, World of Mirth, a colorful, kitschy toy store that’s fun for all ages, and Eurotrash, featuring fashion-forward European women’s clothing for all styles and budgets.

Cornerstone Sonoma is a collection of shops, galleries, and gardens that offers an unusual experience in the Sonoma wine country. The series of walk-through gardens showcase the work of some of the world’s best landscape architects and designers. Each space is different and evokes a unique feeling or experience, but all contribute to the sense of creativity of Cornerstone Gardens. You can easily spend a couple of hours here, first walking through each of the garden installations and then checking out the unique shops and tasting wine. There is an outdoor sculpture garden as well. Cornerstone Sonoma is open daily 10:00-5:00, but the gardens close at 4:00. Admission and parking are free. It is located just a few minutes south of Sonoma and about 15 minutes west of Napa Valley.

One of the most charming souvenirs from the Big Island is a Hula Lamp. The lamps are a great way to bring the spirit of aloha into your home. They are a much grander version of a dashboard hula doll. Charles Moore is the artist who began creating the lamps based on vintage topless hula lamps he had seen from the past. He’s created a variety of designs, colors, and shades for the hula lamps so anyone can find something they like to suit their home. He’s always thinking ahead to new ideas including hula coffee tables, vases, and sculptures. When you walk into his shop, you’ll be impressed by his creations and likely end up taking one home!

Baseball had nothing to do with the naming of Fenway Park: The stadium gets its moniker from the nearby Back Bay Fens, a stretch of saltwater marsh in the heart of Boston that was landscaped into a park by Frederick Law Olmsted. The Fens are among the wilder parts of the Emerald Necklace, 1,100 acres of parklands running from the Charles River to Brookline that include familiar spaces like the Boston Common and Boston Public Garden but also less-traveled (by visitors, anyway) sections like Olmsted Park, Jamaica Pond, the Arnold Arboretum, and Franklin Park. The arboretum, part of Harvard University and established in 1872, is one of Olmsted’s most unaltered terrains, with paths running up and around 261 acres of woodland interspersed with a curated collection of trees, plants, shrubs, and vines native to New England.

Just east of Guayacanes, this six-mile stretch of sand is a favorite of beach bums, with calm waters at one end of the cove and big waves at the other. Busier than Playa Guayacanes, Juan Dolio also offers more food and drink options, plus glass-bottom boat rides and parasailing. For an authentic slice of Dominican life, stop by on Sunday, when local families come to picnic and swim in the warm Caribbean water.